Any Recourse Against Sneaky Tax Raise?

[strogg]

I guess I may be in a minority here when I say that the current system is fine AS LONG AS the property assessment is accurate and fair. If property values go up, so do dollars paid in taxes. It's one of those "you gotta pay to play" deals. The scheme also does a good job of keeping housing prices in check.

There's this one state that tried capping property tax growth a few decades ago like some of you have suggested. That state is called California. Look what happened there. Housing prices have dramatically increased to the point of lunacy. Prices also fluctuate extremely wildly with the ebbing and flowing economy. What could be a $2M home may turn into a $1M or less in short order. It's a general agreement that the tax law (prop 13) is what caused the problem in the state. Of course, trying to repeal it now would be political suicide because that would send home values plummeting and make taxes go up.

[strogg]

I should also add, I'm not against any cap. I'm just against low caps. I'd be happy with a 5% annual assessment cap calculated from the original purchase price and purchase date of the property. This is in contrast to the year on year cap that California has. Generally, property values increase at a rate of 3-5% per year over the long term, so capping it at 5% allows the local municipalities to get a steady stream of cash while not having a large deficit when the economy tanks. This also reduces the burden on the taxpayer by slowing the rate of tax increase. Either way, we pay, and the municipalities get their money. Buffering the property assessment increase just makes it an easier pill to swallow. Hopefully that made sense.

[wil]

There should be a process to appeal. Problem is the appraisal district just does what they want. I protested 3 acres I'm building a house on. Wanted to say if you can find me somebody to pay what you say it's worth, I'll cash the check. After I was called by the appraisal office, I got the price per acre value dropped from $8k to $3k. Now tell me it's not a racket. It did help that I have 74 more acres around the 3 that is ag exempt.

I really want to see what the appraisal district employees' properties are valued at. It would not surprise me one bit that their values didn't go up as much as everybody else's. I wish the property tax was replaced with a consumption tax.

'Ag exemption'

I've heard this term in regards to property ownership, what is it? I'm guessing there's process involved, did you do this yourself? Where did you go or where would I go to find out about this exemption and what it does and where it can be applied?

[Papa_Tiger]

There should be a process to appeal. Problem is the appraisal district just does what they want. I protested 3 acres I'm building a house on. Wanted to say if you can find me somebody to pay what you say it's worth, I'll cash the check. After I was called by the appraisal office, I got the price per acre value dropped from $8k to $3k. Now tell me it's not a racket. It did help that I have 74 more acres around the 3 that is ag exempt.

I really want to see what the appraisal district employees' properties are valued at. It would not surprise me one bit that their values didn't go up as much as everybody else's. I wish the property tax was replaced with a consumption tax.

'Ag exemption'

I've heard this term in regards to property ownership, what is it? I'm guessing there's process involved, did you do this yourself? Where did you go or where would I go to find out about this exemption and what it does and where it can be applied?

Generally your county will have guidelines for acceptable agricultural use of the land and if you meet those requirements, there is a process that you can go through to have the land valued at the agricultural output of the land rather than the "market value". For more information look up "Texas 1-D-1 Valuation".

[roadkill]

If your already ag you can convert to wildlife but the tax rate will stay the same as whatever ag production value it was on previously. I recently converted my 18 acres from hay to wildlife. I had problems with appraiser saying I had to have 50 acres as that was in the guidelines. The law doesn’t specify a minimum acreage for wildlife. I had the TXPWD biologist help write my wildlife plan. It was a major help in getting it approved and he told me if it is denied to let him know and he would contact their lawyers in Austin to make contact with the appraisal district. He had to do this once before when a lady used snakes/reptiles and insects in her plan. It was approved. I say this because the guidelines the county has for ag are nothing more than guidelines and not law but the appraisal district will treat them as such. Do your research because the appraisers aren’t doing it or necessarily up to date on the law.

[J.R.@A&M]

I am not familiar with more rural properties. But in suburban settings, I would always protest the assessment. Get recent (within the last 12 months) sales prices of homes in my neighborhood from a friendly realtor or from Zillow. Convert those to $/sqft, and compare the most comparable houses to mine. In Brazos County, the appraisal board typically had only one nearby house as a comp value. When I gave them 3 or 4 others (with lower values) they usually agreed to my average.

Bottom line, it generally pays to do some homework. They will push the envelope until you push back.

[Oldgringo]

Aren't your taxes still frozen at the level they were when you turned age 65? Better be, that's all those free loadin' scalawags are gonna' get.

[Smokey613]

Aren't your taxes still frozen at the level they were when you turned age 65? Better be, that's all those free loadin' scalawags are gonna' get.

You need to check your local taxing entities. Where I live, only the County property taxes are frozen at 65 if requested. The school districts, community college and other entities do not freeze their appraisal rates.

[imkopaka]

Aren't your taxes still frozen at the level they were when you turned age 65? Better be, that's all those free loadin' scalawags are gonna' get.

Not all of us on this board have the benefit of wisdom and experience, if you know what I mean

[Oldgringo]

Aren't your taxes still frozen at the level they were when you turned age 65? Better be, that's all those free loadin' scalawags are gonna' get.

Not all of us on this board have the benefit of wisdom and experience, if you know what I mean

I get your drift and with the rest of it.

[spectre]

Call it a Church.

[wil]

There should be a process to appeal. Problem is the appraisal district just does what they want. I protested 3 acres I'm building a house on. Wanted to say if you can find me somebody to pay what you say it's worth, I'll cash the check. After I was called by the appraisal office, I got the price per acre value dropped from $8k to $3k. Now tell me it's not a racket. It did help that I have 74 more acres around the 3 that is ag exempt.

I really want to see what the appraisal district employees' properties are valued at. It would not surprise me one bit that their values didn't go up as much as everybody else's. I wish the property tax was replaced with a consumption tax.

'Ag exemption'

I've heard this term in regards to property ownership, what is it? I'm guessing there's process involved, did you do this yourself? Where did you go or where would I go to find out about this exemption and what it does and where it can be applied?

Generally your county will have guidelines for acceptable agricultural use of the land and if you meet those requirements, there is a process that you can go through to have the land valued at the agricultural output of the land rather than the "market value". For more information look up "Texas 1-D-1 Valuation".

Thanks, I will look this up. I'm looking at purchasing land in maybe 24 months time, this seems to be a wise thing to do from a tax standpoint.

[Papa_Tiger]

There should be a process to appeal. Problem is the appraisal district just does what they want. I protested 3 acres I'm building a house on. Wanted to say if you can find me somebody to pay what you say it's worth, I'll cash the check. After I was called by the appraisal office, I got the price per acre value dropped from $8k to $3k. Now tell me it's not a racket. It did help that I have 74 more acres around the 3 that is ag exempt.

I really want to see what the appraisal district employees' properties are valued at. It would not surprise me one bit that their values didn't go up as much as everybody else's. I wish the property tax was replaced with a consumption tax.

'Ag exemption'

I've heard this term in regards to property ownership, what is it? I'm guessing there's process involved, did you do this yourself? Where did you go or where would I go to find out about this exemption and what it does and where it can be applied?

Generally your county will have guidelines for acceptable agricultural use of the land and if you meet those requirements, there is a process that you can go through to have the land valued at the agricultural output of the land rather than the "market value". For more information look up "Texas 1-D-1 Valuation".

Thanks, I will look this up. I'm looking at purchasing land in maybe 24 months time, this seems to be a wise thing to do from a tax standpoint.

Something to be aware of is that the land has to have been used for agricultural purposes for 5 of the last 7 years in order for it to be receive the 1-D-1 valuation.

http://www.guadalupead.org/data/_upload ... 202016.pdf

Summary of Requirements
1.)The land must be currently devoted to a qualifying agricultural use.
2.)The primary use of the land must be agriculture.
3.)The agricultural use must meet the degree of intensity for that particular agricultural use.
4.)The land must have been used primarily for agriculture for any five of the past seven years.

So if you can find a place that already has the valuation, it is fairly easy to keep (just make sure you are actually using it to the specified degree of intensity required by the county). Otherwise you can be looking at up to 5 years before the valuation kicks in.

[K.Mooneyham]

I'm sure folks who are flipping houses just love the values going up year after year, but that doesn't mean a thing to me because I don't plan on selling my house, ever. If I had to, it would only be because of bad circumstances far beyond my control. So, all I see is paying more money out for ZERO GAIN. Of course, the taxes on my little place out here didn't get raised nowhere near as much as some of you, so I guess for that I should be thankful. Say, does anyone know if placing a rusting car out in the front yard will drive down my property value?

[flechero]

Say, does anyone know if placing a rusting car out in the front yard will drive down my property value?

No, because the car is personal property, not real estate... but it will draw a fine from the code enforcement folks!